City officials are being sued by a local architect, who is claiming Louisville skirted public bidding laws involving recent construction contracts.

Architect Rodney Meadows is taking issue with renovations of a building at 1150 W. Main St. for the Police Department. Another project in question is renovation of the Fire Department headquarters at 215 S. Mill St.

Meadows' lawsuit, filed in Stark County Common Pleas Court, also claims that city officials failed to promptly honor his requests for public records regarding the construction and renovation projects.

"That is part of the law, you are supposed to have a management system," Meadows said. "I believe they are misusing public funds. We are saying, 'You violated public records and public bidding (laws).' We just want them to follow the law."

The lawsuit contends Louisville officials split the renovation work into smaller projects, thus keeping the contract amounts below the threshold requiring public bidding.

The state threshold requiring public bidding is $25,000 or $50,000, depending on the contract, according to attorney Charles Hall, who represents Meadows.

"The (construction contract) documents seem to support that they have spent well in excess of the statutory bidding amount," Hall said. "They have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on these projects."

City Manager E. Thomas Ault said he had not seen Meadows' lawsuit.

"A significant amount of work was done by our own people (employees)," Ault said. "There would be some contracts, but it would be materials."

Beyond that, Ault declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Louisville relocated its Police Department and renovated the city-owned building in the 1100 block of W. Main Street.

Records provided by Ault show Louisville spent $328,692 on the renovation project, primarily on materials from vendors such as Metzger's Ace Hardware and Carter Lumber.

The spending started in late winter and continued through the summer.

"We didn't have a primary contractor," Ault said. "We were trying to save the taxpayers money. There were various contractors doing pieces and parts."

Along with Ault, the lawsuit names Mayor Patricia Fallot and City Council members as defendants.

"Since it is something that could end up in litigation, I certainly can't comment on it," Councilman Guy Guidone said.

The lawsuit seeks to have the city comply with public records requests, adopt and comply with competitive bidding laws and attend training. It also seeks court costs and attorneys fees but does not seek damages.

Meadows said his interest is not securing a contract with Louisville to provide architectural services on the renovation projects.

"I had no interest," Meadows said. "I wouldn't want to work with them."